NASHVILLE

For my 30th birthday (which I celebrated last week - ugh!) we took a quick weekend trip to Nashville with our best friends Kole and Shannon!  I have always wanted to go to Nashville and visit the famous Honky Tonks and live my dream of being a "country" girl, and I could think of nothing better to take my mind off of turning 30 then partying it up in Nashville.  Nashville was GREAT!  Except for the crappy weather - which is always the case in my world - so we made the best of it and had as much fun as our 30 year old bodies could take...

 So Friday there was basically a tornado that went through Nashville - totally broke Shannon's umbrella!

 With the weather the way it was we decided to jump on the local trolley and tour the city.  Lucky for us, this was the first day for this particular tour and since nobody else was out and about we had a VIP tour of Nashville - Ottis our driver/tour guide took us "all around the city", I mean all around the city, even parts I am pretty sure the trolley was not supposed to go!

 Here's the tornado...

 Riding on the trolley was truly the best way to see Nashville - it would have been great to actually get off and enjoy the stops, but it still was worth it!  We went to numerous parks, museums, drove by Vanderbilt University and down Music Row - very interesting!

 Here's where we spent the majority of our time - the Honky Tonks!  It was so cool to walk down the street and hear live music coming out of every door way - such a great vibe, for us country folk!  Some very good memories in those little bars...

 After the trolley tour we grabbed some BBQ - yum - and then headed to Tooties where Kole knew one of the musicians playing - we were like his groupies!  He went and had some drinks, listened to the awesome country music and got our feet wet honky tonkin'

 Kole bought his CD - Josh Mauer!  Maybe he will make it big one day and we will say we saw him back in the bars! 

 After Tooties, we returned to the hotel room to relax, dry off and change for our night out.  Of course we did some serious drinking and got ourselves all prettied up to hit the town!  Kole had his drinking "cap" on, and somehow he ended up with my necklace on...

 Friday night will definitely be a night I will never forget!  Probably the most fun I have had in a long time, even Matt agreed.  We drank, danced, listened to wonderful Country music, danced and drank!  It was so FUN and the pictures say it all...

 We honky tonked all night (actually I think we were in bed before midnight), so Saturday was a VERY low key day.  We slept in - which was a blessing in itself - and then was able to finally walk around the city a little bit, although it was still freezing.  I wish we would have tried out this Pedal Bar - you always figure out everything after you visit - but when I return its on my list...

enjoyed some ice cream...

and shopping.  Matt bought cowboy boots - so SEXY!

 We rounded out the afternoon hanging out at "The Stage" which I highly recommend.  The bands were awesome along with the atmosphere and of course the drinks - just a great laid-back bar!  Another thing we learned after the fact - is it's better to get a table at the bars around 5:00 when the bands are changing and plan on hanging out there all night because by 9:00 you could not get into the place...

 We visited Wildhorse Saloon before we left Sunday - another great bar we will have to go back for.  I actually ate Fried Pickles here!  They were great - I always cringed at the idea of a fried pickle - but I guess anything fried, dipped in ranch dressing is good!

 I LOVED visiting Nashville - everything about it!  Even Matt said "Nashville is my kind of town!" 
We will definitely be back.  There is something different about the South - It was so nice to spend a couple days in such a laid back city with the nicest people ever - I couldn't believe how nice everyone was!  Nashville is like my "Vegas"!  I couldn't have asked for a better way to celebrate my 30th birthday or with better friends - so thankful Shannon and Kole made the trip - it would have never been that much fun without them (love you guys)! I would say I am a country girl at heart after this weekend. 

 It was perfect.  Now I wish I could just go back...